How to Trailer a Jet Ski or Sea-Doo

Colman April 1, 2014Boating Tips

What’s the Best Jet Ski or Sea-Doo Trailer to Buy or Rent?

Tips and tricks to transporting your personal watercraft

Jet skiing is an extremely enjoyable activity, providing entertainment for the entire family. Renting jet skis can get expensive over time, so it can be a good investment to purchase your own jet ski. However, unless you have you own harbor or waterfront storage space, you’ll need a trailer for your jet ski. This is both to store the Jet Ski and to ramp it into the water.

In order to trailer a Jet Ski, or any personal watercraft,  you need to first select the right trailer. Careful consideration must be given to how many jet skis will be towed on the trailer. Then one must look at the make, model, and horsepower of the car to see if it is capable of towing such a weight.

You should decide whether you want an enclosed trailer or whether you wish to haul your boat and your jet skis at the same time, in which case you would purchase a different kind of trailer.

Do NOT transport your personal watercraft this way!

 

Most basic trailers hold one Jet Ski and have a weight capacity of around 1000 pounds. The more weight the trailer can hold, the more expensive it will be.

To load your jet ski up to your trailer, you will need several tools: bungee cords, a nose pin for your jet ski, and a friend. Each Jet Ski, on average, requires about two people to lift up comfortably.

Place your jet ski in the appropriate place on the trailer. Hook the nose pin to the pin on the trailer. If you’re going only a short distance, or you know that the roads you will be driving on will be smoothly paved, often just the nose pin will suffice. However, if you are driving farther, faster (for example, on a highway), or aren’t sure of the road conditions, you’ll need to strap down the Jet Ski.

This is where the bungee cords come in. Use them to tie down the Jet Ski. Criss-cross the body of the Jet Ski and hook the cords to the underside of the trailer (there should be placement hooks there). You can also get strap-on cords, which run through the rear holes of the Jet Ski and angle out to the corners of each Jet Ski.

If you are putting cords over the jet ski’s seat, put a towel down under the cord, otherwise you will have a permanent indent where the cord was if you leave the cord there for too long. Keeping the Jet Ski from bumping around and the trailer from swaying is what is going to keep your jet ski in good condition.

You might want to consider purchasing bigger tires for your trailer, as this will help it stabilize (most trailers come with 13” rims, which will result in a lot of swaying). A longer trailer will be prone to less movement than a shorter one.

Sea_Doo Trailered

Once you’ve driven to your destination and are ready to get going, you’ll need to unload the Jet Ski into the water. You’ll need to drive backwards down the ramp towards the water. Have a friend direct you down the ramp and stop before you hit the water.

Perform a dry start-up of the Jet Ski to check if it’s working before you place it in the water. Unhook all the cords and straps. Make sure your life jacket is already on at this point.  Before you back up the Jet Ski fully into the water, unhook the nose pin.

After that, all you have to do is push the jet ski off into the water and you’re good to go!

If you need help with transporting your Jet Ski, Sea-Doo or other personal watercraft, just call American Boat Trailer Rental at 813-831-3384 or visit www.americanboattrailerrental.com

 

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